Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To investigate the relationship between brain structure and psychopathic traits in maximum-security incarcerated male adolescents, and to examine whether the associations between brain volumes in paralimbic and limbic regions and psychopathic traits observed in incarcerated adult men extend to an independent sample of incarcerated male adolescents.

CONCLUSIONS:

These results strengthen the interpretation that paralimbic regions are central for understanding neural dysfunction associated with psychopathic traits and that psychopathy is best conceptualized as a neurodevelopmental disorder.

Regional gray matter volumes (GMV) significantly associated with Total Psychopathy Checklist– Youth Version (PCL-YV) scores, controlling for brain volume (BV), age at scan, and substance dependence. Note: These regions are significant in the whole brain at p<.05, uncorrected for multiple comparisons, with an extent threshold of 1643 voxels, yielding a corrected threshold of p<.05, accounting for spatial correlations between GMVs in neighboring voxels. Coordinates are in Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) space. The color bar represents t-values. GMV increases are in yellow/orange/red and decreases are in green/blue. Negatively associated clusters can be found in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), extending into parahippocampal cortex and the temporal poles, and in the posterior cingulated cortex (PCC). There is a positively associated cluster in the prefrontal cortex.